German Samaritan Association

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The German Samaritan Association came into being in the eighties and nineties of the 19th century , when the number of Samaritan courses and Samaritan associations in Germany - following the example of Friedrich von Esmarch's courses and his founding of the "German Samaritan Association" in Kiel - continued to grow . The need arose within the Samaritan movement to unite the initiatives and associations that still existed independently side by side to form an umbrella organization in order to develop uniform principles and to be able to act more effectively in relation to other associations active in the rescue sector and also state authorities and institutions. In September 1894, German and foreign representatives of the Samaritan community gathered as Section XIX (Rescue Services) at the 8th “International Congress for Hygiene and Demography ” in Budapest . After the end of the last meeting, the German representatives of the Samaritan organization who were present commissioned Assmus from Leipzig , in accordance with the congress resolutions for the year 1895, the representatives of all German rescue societies and Samaritan associations established up to that point, but also city ​​administrations , fire brigades - in general, all bodies involved in rescue - and medical aid service concerned in peacetime - to convene to a German city. This first German Samaritan meeting took place from August 22nd to 25th, 1895 in Kassel .

At the assembly in Kassel were u. a. the following proposals accepted:

  • All associations and corporations that are dedicated to the Samaritan and rescue services in times of peace should meet within the German states or the Prussian provinces to form regional Samaritan associations . Such organizations that went beyond the borders of a federal state or a province could become members of the German Samaritan Association directly.
  • A "German Samaritan Day" should take place every year at different locations in Germany, which should serve as a general exchange of experience and further promote the Samaritan idea.
  • Friedrich von Esmarch was appointed honorary president of the German Samaritan Association.
  • The magazine "Der Samariter" , published in Leipzig, was recognized as a national and association magazine .

Based on the Kassel resolutions, the provisional main committee met in Berlin on April 8, 1896 to determine the time, place and agenda of the first German Samaritan Day, which finally took place in Berlin from September 18 to 20, 1896 with the participation of 127 participants and 25 Representatives of state authorities took place.

With the adoption of a statute that was only slightly changed in the following years, the final founding of the German Samaritan Association was now also completed in formal legal terms.

Up to 1913 there were eleven "Samaritan Days".

To celebrate the 80th birthday of the founder of the German Samaritan movement, Friedrich von Esmarch, the German Samaritan Association donated the "Esmarch Medal" on January 9, 1903. It was given to associations or individuals who had made a contribution to promoting the Samaritan and rescue services.

In 1908 the name was changed to "German Society for Samaritan and Rescue (s) wesen".

With the beginning of the First World War , the decline of the Samaritan organizations merged in the German Society for Samaritan and Rescue Services began. The voluntary rescue and Samaritan associations initially suffered from the staff shortages in their active membership or joined the German Red Cross . The conscription to the military concerned both the doctors and the rest of the volunteer potential of the Samaritan organizations, who were unable to close the gaps or only with great difficulty. Many of the remaining Samaritan associations therefore had to limit their previous practical activities or stop them entirely.

After the end of the war, many former players did not return to their clubs. Finally, under the pressure of the economic conditions at the beginning of the Weimar Republic ( national debt , financial difficulties of the communities, inflation , decline in donations, etc.), the financial basis of the associations broke away. Even the "German Society for Samaritan and Rescue Services", as a nationwide umbrella organization in the Weimar Republic, was no longer able to continue the role it had played until the beginning of the war in 1914. The association continued to exist during the First World War and thereafter from a formal legal perspective. When, however, in 1926 Paul Streffer, the chairman elected in 1912, was asked by the court what had become of the company, the handwritten answer to the district court showed the entire decline up to this point in time: Streffer said, “that the question was asked Society ceased operations during the war. I do not know whether she accepted her again later, as I no longer have any relations with her ”. Stimulated by the inquiry, Streffer tried a little later to revive the activity, and in 1927 he even managed to carry out a “12. German Samaritan Day ", the first since 1913. The last chairman of the German Society for Samaritan and Rescue Services was the doctor Alfred Saupe. However, after the First World War, society no longer had a notable effect.

In Saxony , which was the main field of activity of the Samaritan associations even before the war, the “Landes-Samariter-Verband Sachsen” continued to hold regular state assemblies of the remaining Saxon Samaritan associations after 1918. According to a survey from February 1927, there were 45 Samaritan associations with 5010 personal and 110 cooperative and 1874 active members. The "Landes-Samariter-Verband Sachsen" (State Samaritan Association of Saxony) and all of its member associations were finally dissolved on March 19, 1934 in the course of the National Socialist harmonization of the civil medical service and joined together with their assets to the German Red Cross.

Article content essentially taken from the dissertation listed below.

literature

Secondary literature:

  • Justus Goldmann: History of Medical Emergency Care . Diss. Phil., Bielefeld 2000, via bieson.ub.uni-bielefeld.de

Printed sources:

  • Report of the German Samaritan Association ; published No. 1.1897 (1898) to No. 6.1905 / 08 (1909); ZDB ID 557788-3
  • Report of the German Society for Samaritans and Rescue Services ; published No. 7.1908 / 09 (1910) to No. 10.1912 / 13 (1914); ZDB ID 557789-5
  • Der Samariter - newspaper of the German Samaritan Association ; published volume 1.1895 to volume 3.1897.
  • Journal for Samaritan and Rescue Services - newspaper of the German Society for Samaritan and Rescue Services ; published year 4.1898 to year 32.1931, Dec. ZDB -ID 531849-x